1. Winning Wake: It only took one game for the Deacons to match their ACC win total from all last season. C.J. Harris’ back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute secured a 58-53 victory against Virginia Tech on Saturday that Wake would almost certainly have lost a year ago.

2. Fear the Turtle no more: N.C. State’s win against Maryland in Sunday’s league opener snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Terrapins that dated back to Feb. 5, 2006. It was the first win against Maryland for everyone on the Wolfpack’s current roster. It also made Mark Gottfried only the second State coach ever to win his ACC debut (Les Robinson was the other).

3. Tigers show some teeth: Clemson came into Saturday’s game against Florida State ranked 11th in the ACC in scoring and field goal percentage. But the Tigers’ offense awoke against the league’s best defense by shooting 49 percent and scoring 20 straight points on the way to a surprising 79-59 win.

At 14-1, Virginia is off to its best start since 1981-82

4. Weathering the storm: Twice last season, Miami roared from behind to beat Virginia, including once in the ACC tournament. Saturday, star forward Mike Scott made sure it didn’t happen again by helping the Cavaliers hold on 52-51 for their 12th straight win. Virginia’s 14-1 record is their best start since the days of Ralph Sampson in 1981-82.

5. Red hot Rice: Glen Rice Jr. has had a tough time this season, starting with a three-game suspension for breaking team rules and hitting a low on Dec. 29 when he was held scoreless against Fordham. But Saturday against Duke, he broke out of his slump by hitting 10 of 17 from the floor to tie his career-high of 28 points.

5 NEGATIVES

Coach Leonard Hamilton shows his displeasure with guard Luke Loucks

1. Over-rated: Florida State was picked to finish third in the ACC and was ranked 22nd nationally after a 5-0 start. It has since gone 4-6 with two losses to Ivy League teams and Saturday’s 20-point beatdown by a bad Clemson team. The lowlight of Saturday’s loss was a stretch of 10 straight misses in the first half.

2. Resume loss: There’s a reason Seth Greenberg’s Hokies are always on the wrong side of the bubble on Selection Sunday, and losses like the one Saturday at Wake Forest is the reason why. The Hokies beat the Deacons by an average of 21.5 ppg while shooting 60 percent in two games last season. That wasn’t the case this time.

3. Rivers gone dry: Duke freshman Austin Rivers averaged 16.0 ppg, shot 46 percent from the floor and made 42.6 percent of his 3-pointers. In his last three games, he’s averaging 9.3 points, 31 percent from the floor and 25.0 from 3-point range, including a 3 of 10, 8-point performance Saturday at Georgia Tech.

As they showed again Saturday vs. BC, he Tar Heels need to work on keeping their focus

4. Short attention span Heels: North Carolina beat an outclassed Boston College team 83-60 Saturday, but not before allowing the freshman-laden Eagles to cut a 21-point lead down to nine midway through the second half. It’s the kind of mental lapse that has become the Tar Heels’ trademark this season, and could eventually come back to bite them if they don’t do something to fix the problem.

5. Not-so-free throws: Maryland lost to N.C. State by five Sunday, but the outcome could have been different had the Terrapins been better from the free throw line, where they went 13 of 21 including two key misses in the second half by sophomore guard Pe’Shon Howard.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEEK

The ACC might be as down as it’s ever been, but it’s still just as competitive as always. As Wake Forest, Clemson and Georgia Tech (almost) proved, anyone is capable of beating anyone else, with the possible exception of preseason favorite UNC. While that parity is likely to hurt the ACC come Selection Sunday, it should at least make for some intense and entertaining basketball during the next two months.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Barnes

There were plenty of great candidates this week, including Georgia Tech’s Glen Rice Jr. (28 points vs. Duke), N.C. State’s C.J. Leslie (20 points, 11 rebounds vs. Maryland) and Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin (25 points vs. Maryland). But the best of the best during the ACC’s opening weekend of play was UNC sophomore Harrison Barnes. The league’s preseason Player of the Year made a career-high 10 field goals while scoring 25 points in Saturday’s win against Boston College. He also had five rebounds and a career-high four steals.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Boston College’s starting lineup of five freshmen came into Saturday’s ACC opener at UNC with a combined 43 college starts. Four of the Tar Heels’ starters had that many individually. Only sophomore point guard Kendall Marshall, with 35 career starts, had fewer than the young Eagles.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Everyone thinks we’re Duke and we have kids with beards and hair on their chests, sailing the seas with pirates. But we started two freshmen today.” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski after his team struggled to beat Georgia Tech on Saturday.

LOOKING AHEAD

Wake Forest travels to Maryland with a chance to better its league win total from all last season on Wednesday while a suddenly vulnerable Duke faces a tough test at Cameron against surging Virginia in its ACC home opener Thursday. UNC plays at Florida State 9in the best of the weekend games while N.C. State tries to take advantage of a soft early schedule with games against Georgia Tech on Wednesday and at Wake Forest on Saturday.